


What Now?

by QueenPlatypus



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Edenbrook shutdown, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hospital closing, Hospitals, last day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:07:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27167020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenPlatypus/pseuds/QueenPlatypus
Summary: Edenbrook shut down for good. Hailey is trying to act as if everything is fine, but Ethan knows better.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart)
Kudos: 16





	What Now?

As she watches Edenbrook’s last patient ever get transferred into another hospital, Dr. Hailey Fisherman stood still. Along with other colleagues, she helped the patient, an elderly man, get inside an ambulance safely for his transportation. Even if she was, technically seeing him out, Hailey still made sure the patient was comfortable and secure before she wished him well and got out of the ambulance. She didn’t look away from it until it turned the corner at the end of the street and was out of sight. She sighed, shaking her head and headed back inside Edenbrook’s empty main building.

Walking through the halls to get back to the locker room, she tries her best to keep her head up high, not glancing towards the workers who are carrying the last of the furniture and equipment into a gigantic truck. She tries her best to ignore the fact that everyone else was now gone. She snorts for a second, thinking about the irony of it. In other circumstances, an empty hospital could be a good thing: after all, it would mean that there was no need for a such a place because no one is getting sick.

However… This was not the case right now and this would never be the case. There will never not be unwell people. Sickness was a part of the human condition after all. And this is what made Edebnbrook’s shut down even sadder. The hospital wasn’t closing because no one needed it. It wasn’t closing because there weren’t enough people helping. No, it was closing due to a _budget cut._

Because someone, somewhere, thought that it was too expensive to keep a place established to save people up and running. Because someone thought it wasn’t worth the money. Because…

Hailey breathes heavily through her nose, trying to keep herself composed as much as she could, not letting her anger get to her. No one was there to see her, but still, she didn’t want her last memory of this place, the first that gave her a chance as a doctor, to be of her breaking down.

Once she emptied her locker and slipped every possible thing that was in it inside her bag, she closed the door shut, taking a moment to sit down one last time and look around. Only inside this tiny room she had a few memories: starting with how she met Bryce and Jackie, both half naked and teasing her. Remembering that, Hailey chuckled a little, then sighed before she got up, turned off the lights and got out of the locker room, closing the door behind her.

As she started to head towards the entrance, she stopped when she got in front of the waiting room. There, she smiled again, remembering this was where she first met Ethan in person. Sure, she didn’t know it was him at the time and found him incredibly rude, but now… Thinking of it, she couldn’t help but laugh. Shaking her head, she kept walking, deciding to take another look around the empty hospital. She remembered meeting Sienna, Elijah, Rafael, Aurora… Even Landry! She winced upon thinking about him, but managed to smile: after all, it was in the past, now.

Finally, she walks out the doors, feeling them slide closed behind her back. She trembles, feeling the cool air around her. Closing her eyes for a second, she keeps her head high and started walking away.

“Need a ride?”

Surprised, she opens back her eyes and turns her head. Only then, she could see Ethan behind the wheel of his car, his window down and looking at her. Hailey did not give an answer but did not think twice either. In a few quick steps, she headed to the car, opened the passenger’s door and slid inside the car. She didn’t glance in his way but she didn’t need to to know he was looking at her with worry in his eyes.

“Where to?” He asks.

She shrugs.

“Hailey…”

“Your place.”

Ethan doesn’t push it further. He waits for her to attach her seatbelt before he rolls away from the parking lot. After a while in the streets of Boston, they are finally entering his building, heading for his apartment. Ethan unlocks the door, pushes it open and almost instantly, they hear Jenner’s familiar yipping. Hailey smiles, kneels before greeting her with a few pats.

“Hey girl. How have you been?” She asks.

Jenner’s answer consists in her wagging her tail from left to right. Hailey chuckles, then gets up to get rid of her coat. Ethan slides past her.

“Do you want something to drink? To eat?”

“The usual, thank you.”

He nods and heads to the bar, grabbing his bottle of debuted scotch along with two glasses. He fills them and brings one to Hailey who took place on her usual spot on the couch, absentmindedly petting Jenner who sits alongside her. The blonde doctor picks up the glass with a smile, before bringing it against Ethan’s glass. She then brings it up to her lips and takes a sip. Satisfied, she puts the glass back on the table in front of her, returning to her activity for the time Jenner stuck around. When his dog finally decided to do something else, Ethan turned to her.

“So… Are you planning to tell me what’s going on inside your head sometime or do you just want to pretend it doesn’t exist?”

One of her brows shot up as she turned to face him.

“I’m sorry?”

He shakes his head.

“I’ve known you for two years, Hailey. You don’t have to pretend that the shutdown is not affecting you.”

“It’s not… Really, I’ve made peace with the idea.”

“Is that so?”

“Pssh, yeah! I mean, we tried, but… it was always bound to happen no matter what we tried, right?”

She lets out a snort, but that only managed to make Ethan frown even more as she tried to brush it off.

“Hails…”

“Yeah! Because that’s just how this whole thing works, right? It doesn’t matter how hard you work, how much you do or even how much hope you have because…”

Finally, her façade she tried to keep up started to crumble and she sniffles.

“Because these are worth nothing when you don’t have enough funds… And… And…”

Then, she feels her eyes sting, her throat getting fuller and she couldn’t hold up anymore. Bringing up her two hands, she covers her face as she starts to sob, body fully shaking now. Quickly, Ethan closes the distance between them, picking her up in his arms, hugging her and sliding one of his hands on her back in an attempt to comfort her.

“It’s… It’s so unfair!” She cries, clinging to him.

“I know. Unfortunately, that’s usually how everything is, in this world.”

“Not helping.” She mumbled, sniffling.

She shakes her head and distances herself from him once again. She wipes her eyes with her sleeves, but Ethan completes the manoeuvre by picking up a tissue from the box on the table and sliding it on both of her cheeks.

“We could’ve helped so many people… We…”

“We can still do that. Edenbrook was only one way to do it.”

“But how? Now, the nearby hospitals are just going to get even more crowded and… I don’t understand why this doesn’t upset you more. You had your whole career inside those walls! We had the best diagnostics team in the whole country! And now…”

“Hails… I didn’t become a doctor for the sake of having a ‘career’. I couldn’t care less about it.”

“But…”

“And I don’t need Edenbrook. And neither do you.”

“How can you even say that?”

Ethan sighs, then grabs her two hands inside his.

“Listen. Losing Edenbrook… I’m not going to lie, it’s unfortunate. It’s a great loss, there’s no way around it. And the one who will suffer more are not us, the former employees, but the people, just like you said. Hospitals are going to get even more crowded than there are now, proning people to receive more and more mediocre care.”

“But…”

“But you have to understand that Edenbrook was, and has always been, just a building. What made it great and helpful is in no way the place, but the people. The janitors, the floor clerks, the security guards, the nurses… and us. The doctors. And as long as we’re here, the mission can live on. No matter where we go and no matter where we are.”

“I get it, but… There are some things that are better done inside a hospital. And Edenbrook… It just means so much to me! This place gave me a chance to prove myself as a doctor, I met so many of my friends and have so many great memories! And… It’s where I was able to meet _you_.”

She looks in his eyes.

“This place literally saved my life when I was on the verge of dying. And I know what you’re going to say… Edenbrook alone didn’t save my life. But… In a way, it did. Because if I wasn’t there with all of you around me… I might not even be here anymore. So…”

“It’s more than just a workplace to you.”

She nods.

“And I don’t know if I’ll be able to become the best doctor I can be elsewhere… Besides, I’ll miss working alongside you.”

He lets out a small laugh.

“I won’t. You’ve always been a pain in my ass.”

“Hey!” She says, playfully punching him.

“Alright, alright, I’m mostly joking. But really. Now, we no longer have to hide.”

“I guess that’s the good we can get out of all this situation…”

She snuggles against him and Ethan is quick to put an arm around her waist.

“Not all of it.”

“And how do you know that?”

He pressed his lips quickly on her forehead and gets back, smiling at her.

“I know you.”


End file.
